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Coins of Joseph

on January 15, 2010; last updated January 15, 2010

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a pile of coins “bearing the name and
image of the biblical Joseph,” the Jerusalem Post reports.

The coins—five hundred in all—were in the Museum of Egypt in a pile of small
“artifacts.” It had been thought that they were only charms or ornaments. One
of the researchers, who was studying Joseph, found the artifacts in a vault.

While studying the “ornaments,” he found that they were mostly round and had
an inscription on one side and an image on the other, just like coins do today.
The inscription said “Egypt” and then had a date and a value (similar to the
words “one quarter” appearing on a quarter). The researcher determined that
the coins had several different versions of the name Joseph, and what is assumed
to be an image of him.

It was previously thought that the Egyptians never used coins, but only traded
for the things they needed. If this discovery proves valid, it would seem that
the Egyptians did use coins.

The coins are dated to many periods of Egyptian history, including as far back
as Joseph’s time. Most interestingly, the report matches up with Genesis 41,
by describing “one coin that had an inscription on it, and an image of a cow
symbolizing Pharaoh’s dream about the seven fat cows and seven lean cows, and
the seven green stalks of grain and seven dry stalks of grain.”

The coins are not available for others to review, so we do not know if they
are truly what is being claimed. No matter what the coins turn out to be, however,
we do know that Joseph was a real person, and that he saved Egypt from a terrible
seven year famine. We can always trust the Bible.